Feline design: A ‘catio’ can give cats a taste of the outdoors in a safe way

Want to upgrade your kitty’s living space? If you have the space (and don’t need to take up too much space), adding a catio might be the best option.

Chris MacIntosh, who laughingly described herself as “probably a true cat lover,” is the caretaker of several beloved felines who rule the roost from the comfort of her catio in her Redwood City backyard.

“It gives them a little more square footage. They can hear the birds, they can smell the birds.,MacIntosh said. “Cats are really happy roaming around sniffing around the yard, but unfortunately it’s not a super healthy life for them, or for the birds and everything.” Hence the catio.

MacIntosh said she’s had her catio — an enclosed outdoor space for cats; a combination of cat house and patio — for about 15 years.

“It’s been moved and transported here and there and made into different shapes, so it’s completely tacky and ugly, but the cats don’t care,” she said.

A safe space

“For people with patios or backyards, catios are a great option to provide a safe way for cats to explore the outdoors. While it’s a limited space, it’s a safe space, and safety for me is the number one thing,” Maria Eguren, director of the behavior and training department at the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, told this news organization via email.

In addition to giving cats a taste of the outdoors and protecting them from dangers like cars, poisons, and predators, catios also protect wildlife. in Cats. According to Colleen Crowley, communications manager for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, one of the main reasons birds are admitted to the organization’s wildlife care center is cat attacks.

Catios can also provide enrichment for cats, improving their mental and physical well-being by reducing boredom, which can in turn reduce potential unwanted behaviors, according to Eguren.

“When cats can safely hang out in a catio, it tends to minimize behaviors like scratching valuable household items or our feline friends getting busy with things they shouldn’t,” she said. “Catios allow your cat to use their visual and olfactory senses, while also enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. You control the environment in a catio, so you can add as many things as you want for your cat to explore.”

Simple to luxurious designs

Lisa Parramore, an outdoor living designer at Harrell Design + Build, recently designed her first catio for clients in Palo Alto. The project involved transforming an existing second-floor balcony space into a catio for the homeowners’ cats, which the humans can enjoy as well.

“They thought it would be nice for (the cats) to get some fresh air safely, and they can also sit on the porch and enjoy the fresh air,” she said.

The space is about 5 feet by 14 feet, she said, with the existing door preserved for human use and a cat door added for the kitties. A strong copper mesh was chosen for the enclosure (there is a mesh more commonly used on windows to prevent cats’ claws from damaging the screens, Parramore noted, but in this case the clients opted for the larger-gauge copper mesh that would offer a better, clearer view of the outdoors, especially of a favorite mature tree).

Built-in shelves attached to mesh and covered with outdoor carpet give cats places to jump and perch comfortably. A polycarbonate roof provides some protection from the elements while still letting in sunlight, and a built-in bench with a cushion gives humans a comfortable new perch, too. Now the whole family, human and feline, can enjoy the porch together.

When it comes to catios, “some can be extremely luxurious and some can be extremely simple and everything in between,” Parramore said.

In the case of the Palo Alto custom catio, there were some specifications unique to that project.

“The deck hadn’t been sanded or painted in a while; our first step was to refinish it,” she said. Another minor complication is the fact that, by law, bedrooms must have an exit to the outside in the event of a fire. The room with the balcony is currently used as a home office, but because it has a closet, it’s technically classified as a bedroom. And while the existing door to the balcony met that requirement, closing it off meant it no longer did. Now, one of the metal panels below the railing is hinged, so a firefighter can access it if necessary.

When MacIntosh first started her catio, she was living in a rented backyard house in Menlo Park. The indoor space she had was too small and stifling in the summer, but her landlord ruled that she couldn’t let her cats roam free in the yard because of the rescued wildlife his girlfriend had rehabilitated there. A friend who was trained in carpentry and knowledgeable about catios offered to design and build an enclosure for MacIntosh if she could gather the materials and labor. With the help of more friends, her first catio was built in less than two days.

“My restriction at the time was that it had to be something that wasn’t irremovably attached to the house. This one had three sides, with a screen over it too, which was a pain to get the oak leaves out of,” she recalled.

About a decade ago, she moved to Redwood City, and once again, thanks to her “most amazing friends” and their truck, she dismantled the catio and moved it north, where it was repurposed for use in her new space, this time as part of a covered patio. It was dismantled again during renovations a few years ago and temporarily used in a different part of the yard.

“It’s now back to what I hope will be its permanent setup,” she said of the enclosure, which her cats access through a window and which she can enter and exit through an exterior door and secure with a hook-and-eye closure from the inside. She added a few cat trees for more lounging and climbing options.

“If you have someone with some basic carpentry skills and a few friends, it’s possible to do it yourself. The only thing you have to remember is to think about, ‘How can cats get hurt?’” she said, when asked for advice to give to those interested in adding a catio of their own.

“Every possible corner has been blocked off for the little animals because they can be creative,” she said.

She has been careful to use mesh small enough that no paws or claws can get caught, and to keep all sharp mesh clips on the outside. She inspects her catio biannually to make sure it is still in good condition and doesn’t need any repairs, and that no predators can get in.

“I also have a few litter boxes in mine now,” she said. “Hey, if I have to have litter boxes, let’s put them there instead of all over my house.”

Tips for adding your own

For those less inclined to DIY or go the professional designer route, pet supply suppliers sell catio kits in a variety of shapes and prices. A quick search on Amazon, for example, reveals all sorts of enclosure options.

“A catio doesn’t necessarily have to be big and fancy. Some people just add a small extended catio space to an existing window cutout,” Eguren noted.

For inspiration, the public can view an example of a simple catio set up in a window at the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA store at 1450 Rollins Road in Burlingame.

More tips and information about catio are offered online at Humane Society of the United States.

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